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HISTORY OF MARINE ARCHITECTURE.

their stems and prows were considerably more elevated above the surface ofthe water than the midship, or centre of the vessel, which, from the peculiarshape of the bow and after part, caused it to bear no very contemptible resem-blance to an half moon ; the masts were, generally speaking, single, and seldom,if ever, exceeded two in number; the sails were all square, and the yards,lowering down on the deck like those of a modern lugger, when the vessel wasbrought to an anchor, rendered the rigging extremely simple, for the art ofsailing by the wind, that is to say, otherwise than before it, or nearly so, wasan improvement of an after-time. The frame, which formed the strength ofthe hull, was in principle similar to that now constructed, except that thosewhich are called the filling timbers, were omitted ; to this, the outside plankswere fastened with iron nails, a custom prevalent in many countries some yearssince, and not totally abolished even at the present moment. They were notset edge to edge, and the interstice filled with oakum, as is now most generallypractised, but lapped over each other with a sufficient caulking between themto keep out the water, a practice frequently made use of even at the presentmoment in the construction of cutters, luggers, and vessels of that descriptionor class intended for light service. The more mechanical art of joining the•different component parts of a ship together, was borrowed at this time, in allcivilised countries, from the practice of the Mediterranean powers; so that theonly existing variation consisted in the exterior, and even that was so triviallydistinguishable in vessels of the same class or rate, that the most critically dis-cerning eye would scarcely have been competent to the task of appropriating, inSl squadron collected from different parts of Europe, each ship to its nativecountry. The Genoese, indeed, and the Venetians, whose example was in somedegree followed by the Flemings and Spaniards, rendered their ships materiallydifferent from those of other countries ; but the variation was occasioned solelyby their superior dimensions and burthen, for on examining the best authoritieswhich the ravages of time have permitted to survive to the present moment, itwill be found, that sculptors, as well as painters, could either not discover anyvariation in the character (to use a quaint scientific term) of vessels belonging.to different nations, or that they did not think it sufficiently consequential torequire being marked in their works.

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